EXCL Rachel Reeves urges Labour to expel member over ‘barrage of abuse’ since election
2 min read
A Labour MP has called on the party to expel one of its members after they unleashed a “barrage of abusive and false tweets” in the wake of the election.
Rachel Reeves has written to General Secretary Jennie Formby to “make an official complaint about the online behaviour” of Grace Halfpenny.
In a letter seen by PoliticsHome, Ms Reeves says the member's Twitter account "reads like a sewer of falsehoods and obsessive abuse, almost entirely aimed at fellow Labour Party members".
“This conduct is entirely inappropriate for a member of our Party and she should be disciplined accordingly," the former Shadow Cabinet member adds.
“Ms Halfpenny’s barrage of abusive and false tweets include a number of blatantly anti-semitic claims.”
Ms Reeves, who retained her Leeds West seat last week, said she was referred to as a “right-wing shill for the Apartheid state of Israel” and a “Labour traitor”.
Ms Halfpenny also criticised the decision to suspend members over anti-semitism, saying there is “no evidence whatsoever” of it in the party.
Ms Reeves said: “While Labour has always been home to frank and robust debate, Ms Halfpenny’s tweets clearly go beyond this and enter the ugly realms of bigotry-fuelled abuse.”
In her letter to Ms Formby she adds: “Ms Halfpenny’s abhorrent remarks are entirely incompatible with the values of the Labour Party and she must now be expelled.”
Ms Reeves said she has been targeted after she was critical of Jeremy Corbyn following the party's heaviest defeat at the ballot box since 1935.
At an angry meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party meeting on Tuesday she told Mr Corbyn he was “economically illiterate”.
She also told him “the biggest drag on the support at this election was him and his leadership”.
The Labour Party has been contacted for a response.
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